


I Will Find You.

by Spirit and Opportunity (SentinelSpockNimoy)



Series: Opportunity and Amity [4]
Category: MER - Fandom, Mars Exploration Rover, Mars Rovers - Fandom, NASA - Fandom, NASA MER, The Rovarians
Genre: Aliens, Angst, Angst and Feels, Angst and Hurt/Comfort, Angst with a Happy Ending, Comfort, Comfort/Angst, Fluff and Angst, Fluff and Hurt/Comfort, Hostage Situations, Hurt, Hurt/Comfort, Injury, Kidnapping, Light Angst, M/M, Major Character Injury, Mars, Mild Hurt/Comfort, NASA, NASA AU, NASA Mars Rovers, Opportunity (Mars Rover) - Freeform, Rescue, Rescue Missions, Science Fiction, Sentient Mars Rovers, Serious Injuries, Spirit (Mars Rover) - Freeform, mars rovers
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-07-09
Updated: 2019-07-09
Packaged: 2020-06-25 09:50:30
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,831
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19743223
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/SentinelSpockNimoy/pseuds/Spirit%20and%20Opportunity
Summary: Opportunity is missing. Amity and Spirit are in a race against the clock to find him.





	I Will Find You.

**Author's Note:**

> This is cowritten by myself and Amity's creator, who to my knowledge does not have an AO3 account.
> 
> Spirit, Opportunity, and NASA © ....well, NASA  
> Rovarians (including OCs and Rovarian versions of Spirit and Opportunity) © Me  
> Amity © @brightlinespectra (now @darklinespectra )
> 
>  **Amity's Tumblrs**  
>  **Old:** https://interstellar-amity.tumblr.com/  
>  **New:** https://nasa-amity.tumblr.com/
> 
>  **Amity's Creator's Tumblrs**  
>  **Old:** https://brightlinespectra.tumblr.com/  
>  **New:** https://darklinespectra.tumblr.com/

Amity scuffed a wheel on the floor, filled with nervous energy. Opportunity had been unresponsive and missing for too long now. A beep pulled him out of his thoughts: it was his video transmitter. 

"Hello, this is Amity from NASA, how may I.... oh, no...."  
He was met with a horrible sight.

It was Opportunity, forced down onto folded axles by heavy chains and metal cables. His hands were tied behind him with cables, wrenched upward in a way that was meant to cause him pain. The same cables were wrapped all around his body, with dozens of what Amity recognized as taser prongs stabbed into him at random points. His head hung low, making it obvious he’d been denied any sun, just the fluorescent tube lights of the dirty, musty room he was in.

Suddenly, all those taser prongs activated, the cables magnifying the effect, and Opportunity screamed, actually screamed, in pain as he thrashed against the restraints holding him. The words on the message simply said _You know what we want. The longer you wait, the worse it gets for him. Wait too long, and the shock will be so strong it’ll kill him. It’s up to you._

Sharp cold shot through Amity’s body. He couldn’t move, couldn’t think.

“Oppy?!” he managed, “Can you hear me?”

If Opportunity responded, it got lost in the scream echoing in Amity’s mind. He scanned the words in the message instead. _Calm down_ , he told himself. _You were made for negotiating. You can get him back_.

“Who are you? Make your identity known. This will be considered an act of war if you do not comply.”

No one said anything; those same haunting words continued to light up the screen.

“Spirit,” he asked, turning to her. “Can you track the signal?”

\--------------------------------------

“D-Don’t….give them…..what they want…..” Opportunity managed once the tasers shut off. He struggled with talking, it hurt him to talk. He thought he’d heard Amity’s voice, and he was afraid the smaller rover had been taken too.

A metal bar slamming into his face brought him back to reality, and he forced out words again.

“You have….t-to respond….to th-this. It’s the only way……they’ll c-com-mun-nic-cat-te.” If he could, he would’ve had tears sliding down his face from the pain.

\---------------------------------------

“WHO ARE YOU COWARDS!?” Spirit roared, “LET MY BROTHER GO OR I’LL KICK YOUR ARSES INTO NEXT EON!!!!”

“Hang in there, love,” Amity said softly, his hand touching Opportunity’s face on the screen. “Everything’s going to be okay.”

His eyes narrowed and his voice became steely as he addressed Opportunity’s captors. “What is it you want? I’ll get you on the horn with NASA if you’d like to speak to my superiors. I’m sure we can come to an agreement.”

The words changed _You know what we want. Quit stalling_. The tasers activated again, a meter on the bottom of the screen showing that this shock was more powerful than the last, and when it finally shut off, Opportunity was sparking and shuddering, quiet sob sounds coming from him.

Spirit was already on the comm console,

“Rovaria Prime Leader 2 calling NASA. Red alert. Please respond…….It’s Oppy.” Her voice broke on that last bit.

The answer was quick. “Dr. Johnson here. What’s going on?”

Amity had to tear his gaze away from the screen to look at the comm console.

“Doctor, this is Amity. Opportunity has been taken hostage. He’s hurt.”

He looked at Spirit. “You know we can’t give them information on you. If we feed them false info on NASA, we can team up to fight back.”

“I know, Amity, but if we feed them fake info, they might figure out it's fake and hurt him more. We gotta be careful here." She said softly as she laid a hand on his shoulder, turning back to the human onscreen, "Whatever we do, we can’t wait them out, they’ll kill him if we do.” Spirit’s voice was breaking, “Please, there must be something you can think of to help him.” She sent them a copy of the message and linked them into the live feed Amity was watching. “Amity’s right, this is going to take both NASA and Rovaria to do. So, what does Earth think?”

Dr. Johnson was quiet. “If you can track the signal, or find out who could have captured him, we can have battle rockets on their way in less than an hour.”

“An hour?!” cried Amity. “We don’t have a clue where he could’ve been taken!”

He started to panic. This was more than anxiety: paralyzing fear was making its way from his core up his mast, making it feel like he couldn’t move or think.

“Calm down,” Dr. Johnson said. “Do your job, Amity. We can’t get him back with you panicking.”

She turned her attention to Spirit. “Can you find out if there’s been any breach in security on your end? If not, this could be an inside job. It looks like someone wants to take control of your government.”

“If that’s what they’re after, they’ve made a _fatal_ mistake.” the MER snarled, her eyes, despite being brown, blazing with fury, “No one hurts my family or my people and gets away with it.” Having known her for a while, Amity knew the rage and anger was they only thing stopping her from falling apart and crying at the sight of her beloved brother’s suffering.

“I can tell you it’s not on Mars or any of our facilities. We don’t use those kind of lights.” Spirit said after taking a pause to cool off, “I’ve got Kiali, Ceres, Centaurus, and Crux looking into it on our end. I’d have people get to work on it on your end too. The more time we take, the less chance we have of finding him alive.” Her voice wavered again, but she fought it. The thought of finding her brother dead was too awful to imagine. 

“I don’t know how much he’s been through already, nor do I know how many more of those shocks he can take. They get stronger every time………Maybe it’s time to alert the public that he’s missing. That way, we have WAY more people searching.” She was interrupted by the third shock. At NASA, the screams from the live feed turned heads, some people questioning what the hell Johnson was listening to or watching. Spirit deliberately turned away. She knew that if she watched, she’d break. It didn’t stop Amity, though.

\-----------------------------------------------

Now the Rovarian’s shaking was making it difficult for him to remain upright. The cables binding him were the only thing keeping his mast and upper body from folding onto his back. He tried to rasp out words, only to find his voice synthesizer damaged, giving his screams a screechy, horrifying, blood curdling sound. Opportunity couldn’t talk anymore. Which was just as well, talking had become its own painful form of torture. He just hoped Spirit and Amity were okay.

\-----------------------------------------------

“What if alerting the public makes them angrier?” Amity asked. “They can hurt him even more.”

A shrieking scream came next. Amity could barely recognize it as Opportunity: what he saw and heard on the screen was the shell of a person, who was having the life beaten out of him. His voice should never have sounded like that.

The sight drove daggers into Amity’s core.

“NO, STOP!!”

\------------------------------------------------

Dr. Johnson’s heart tore in two. She hadn’t been on the original MER mission, but from her communications with the twins over the last few years, she’d grown to genuinely like and respect them.

When the screaming died down, she turned to her colleagues; they had seen it all.

“I want battle rockets on standby, and at least one satellite at each facility talking to Mars. Let’s find him, people!”

\-------------------------------------------------

He was going to die here. Opportunity was sure of it. He knew Spirit and Amity would never give in. They knew he wouldn’t want that.He knew they were probably looking for him, but he couldn’t imagine how they would find him. HE didn’t even know where he was.

And yet, death itself wasn’t what scared him. It was the thought that he was alone, that when he died here, no one would know it. No one would know what happened to him. If he could, he would’ve cried at the mental image of Spirit and Amity carrying his body to the citadel to lay in state.

 _I’m sorry_ , he thought, _I’m sorry Spirit, Amity. I love you both so much._

\-----------------------------------------

 _Hold on, Oppy_ , Spirit begged, _Please hold on, just a little more. We’re coming._

“Excuse me.” Both of them turned to see Captain Kiali in the doorway, another Rovarian behind her.

“Spirit, Amity, Dr. Johnson, my communications officer has an idea to help find Opportunity. Lieutenant Gemini, go ahead.”

“Thank you, Captain,” the lieutenant turned toward the comm screen.

“Dr. Johnson, what about NASA’s old tracking systems. The ones you used to locate Spirit and Opportunity on their original mission. I was scanning for Opportunity’s communicator signal, but I can’t pick it up. However, I’m getting all kinds of low-tech signals-low tech compared to us, I mean-no matter where I scan. Our systems aren’t designed to pick up the old MER tracking signals, but I figured NASA might still have the ability to do it.”

“Dr. Johnson, please get someone on that,” Spirit begged, “I know we don’t have proof it’ll work, but Oppy doesn’t have time for us to get proof. Please. For him.”

“My goodness, you’re right,” Dr. Johnson breathed. “I hadn’t thought of that!”

She spun around and looked at two colleagues sitting at computers behind her. “Get communications running with Odyssey, MRO, and MAVEN. They’ll be our best shot at finding Opportunity’s signal.”

The employees nodded and got to work. Soon enough, Opportunity’s signal appeared on the screen. Amity felt his RTG nearly jump out his body. “There he is!” he cried.

“That doesn’t make sense,” said Dr. Johnson. “It should have taken longer for the signal to reach us. It hasn’t even picked up on Spirit yet. Unless…”

Everyone looked at each other as they reached the conclusion.

“They’re hiding him on Earth!”

“Kiali, fire up the _Artax_!” Spirit barked, “We may need her sickbay, so have Medical teams on standby for an emergency! Admiral Ceres, get us a clear shot into the air! Centaurus, Crux, you’re our diversion! Kick some ass, but don’t kill anybody! NASA, remain in contact with us and alert the proper authorities on your world. Amity, you’re with me! I want us there five minutes ago, people, let’s move!” She transferred the communication to her data pad, only pausing to grab an extra disruptor and let Amity climb on her back so he wouldn’t be left in her dust as she raced to the docks, where the _Artax_ ’s engines were already powering up.

Hold on, Oppy, she thought, We’re coming

\---------------------------------------------

The ensign watching the comm station barely had time to say “Captain on the bridge!” as Kiali and Gemini arrived in a rush.

“Helm, get us off the ground and set course for Earth, full impulse, on the double.” Kiali rattled off as she took her position on the captain’s pad and activated two comms to other decks on the ship. “Shuttle bay, have the runabout standing by to go planetside. Medical, be on standby to receive an emergency patient.” 

“Aye, Captain”, “Yes Captain”, “We’re on it” came the replies. Kiali then activated the shipwide PA.

“All decks, this is the captain. I want everyone prepared to enter combat either in space or on the ground. We’ve very little idea who or what we’re dealing with, so I want us prepared for anything. This is not a drill, I repeat, NOT A DRILL. Captain out.” She shut off the speaker, and at a signal from Spirit, she gave the order to the helmsman. 

Heads all over Meridiani turned at the thunderous roar of engines as the _Artax_ shot into the sky.

\---------------------------------------------

His secondary eyes had gone out with the most recent shock, and Opportunity was sure his primaries would go next. And he didn’t even know who had him or why. But with each shock now, some part of his body shorted, glitched, or failed completely. This was a death he wouldn’t wish on anyone. His vision was blurry and staticky, and he could barely make out the wall in front of him.

More than anything, he just wished he could see Amity and Spirit again. He wished they were here to hold him now. If nothing else, even just hearing their voices would've brought him some comfort.

\----------------------------------------------

Amity’s entire body shook and trembled with the movement of the _Artax_. He was no stranger to spaceflight, but he much preferred having his wheels on solid ground. He’d nearly fallen off Spirit in her hurry to get to the ship.

Dr. Johnson was still on his video transmitter. “I’ve contacted authorities in Wyoming, as that’s where Opportunity’s signal is coming from. Looks like it’s in the middle of nowhere, so you should have plenty of space to land. Military and police are setting up a perimeter as we speak. If those goons are in there, they’ll be arrested for sure.”

“Thank you, Doctor,” said Amity quietly. “I know you’ll make sure they get what they deserve. I just hope we aren’t too late.”

“Of course, dear.” Dr. Johnson’s voice and gaze softened. “And don’t worry about causing a stir here on Earth. NASA will handle the press. You just get Opportunity back.”

“Thank you, so much.” Spirit said.

The _Artax_ was actually much smoother than the rocket that had originally carried him to Mars. The powerful starship was faster, too. Much faster. Before he knew it, the ship was cloaked in low orbit and he was onboard the shuttlecraft piloted by Spirit. Centaurus and Crux were in the other shuttle, and the larger runabout carried a medical team and their equipment.

As they landed, the aliens could see military and SWAT vehicles forming a perimeter around the area. When they disembarked, Spirit took Amity off to the side, closer to where the signal was strongest.

“Wait just a little longer. The Terror Twins are going to draw away guards with diversions, and he’s most likely guarded.”

When they received a signal, and heard an explosion, the MER shot forward with Amity behind her. They knew there would be more goons inside, even as Spirit drew her staff weapon and blasted the door open to a hallway inside.

Voices and the _tap tap tap_ of human feet running echoed in the empty building. The pair raced down the hallway as the beeping on Amity’s transmitter grew louder. 

They turned a corner, and there, surrounded by hooded humans and tangled in a mess of cables, was Opportunity. They had been in the middle of moving him, apparently.

Amity let out a scream and charged forward, whacking one man aside with his arm and slamming into another one. He decided to let Spirit handle the majority of the fighting while he worked to unhook Opportunity from the cables. 

Suddenly, a human came at him with a taser. “Don’t even think about it,” Amity snarled, and flung the man into a wall, taser and bones breaking upon impact with the bricks.

With no other humans attacking at the moment, Amity was able to roll to a stop in front of the MER. “Wake up, love. It’s me. Spirit and I are getting you out of here.”

He pressed a kiss to the top of Opportunity’s mast, then got to work pulling out the taser prongs.

Spirit was a blur of pure rage-fueled fire as she leapt over the fallen one and into the fray, her staff weapon knocking them away from Amity and her brother. When they drew their own weapons, she traded it for her disruptor, aiming for arms or legs. Nothing fatal, but enough to put them out of commission. If they got close enough, though, she let her fists fly. She knew her brother was in good hands-hand-until backup and the medics arrived.

\-----------------------------------------

How was this possible? He was hearing Amity’s voice. Was this dying? But then he felt a hand on him. Not a cold, rough hand either. This hand wasn’t even human. It was small, metallic, warm……and gentle. Then he felt what was unmistakably a kiss.

 _Amity?_ He tried to say. But all that came out was pained static. His whole body hurt. He was shuddering hard, various parts of him sparking, and he winced when the prongs were pulled out, even though Amity was trying to be gentle and not hurt him anymore. Even once the cables were off, he sagged on his axles, too weak to hold up his own weight. When Amity removed the cables binding his arms and mast, he collapsed into the one arm of Amity, which he felt close around him as he shook, staticky sobs racking him.

“…..a…..mit….y……” he ground out. Painful as it was, the agony evident in his voice, he wanted to assure Amity he’d heard him. But all he could get out was his love’s name before the pain was too much.

“Sshh,” Amity soothed, “Just rest.”

He spoke too soon. Opportunity went limp in his arm, and Amity had to restrain himself from screaming. 

“Spirit, help me get him out of here, I can’t carry him!” 

More humans with guns began to file into the room. They were armored, and Amity realized that they were SWAT. Those men quickly got to apprehending Opportunity’s captors. 

“Medical’s on their way…..Ohhhh, Oppy!” she gasped, seeing her brother, usually standing tall and strong, laying there shaking and twitching in Amity’s arm.

“We shouldn’t move him on our own. We could hurt him more that way.” Spirit said. She gently took her brother in her arms as Amity stalked over the one of the downed guys. He watched the guy groan and try to sit up……before ramming his wheel between the guy’s legs, causing him to curl into a fetal position. 

Spirit helped the medical group load Oppy onto a big stretcher, which they then wheeled out to the waiting runabout.

“You go with him.” Spirit said to Amity. “I’m going to thank everyone from Earth for their help ands see if maybe anyone can figure out how and why they took him. But he should have one familiar face to look at when he wakes up.”

Amity rolled away, satisfied with the man’s submission. He tasered one more struggling human for good measure and handed him off to a SWAT officer. 

“That’s for kidnapping and hurting the love of my life!” he spat.

When Spirit told him to go ahead, Amity balked. He knew he should stay, since communicating with Earth was really his job, but he knew Spirit would be okay. Besides, he got to be with Oppy.

“You’re right. I’ll keep an eye on him.” Amity bid Spirit farewell and boarded the runabout, settling as close to Opportunity as he could without getting in the way. He reached out to hold the MER’s hand.

_Please don’t let us be too late._

The hand was shaking, but it gave his a weak squeeze. He knew Amity was there. Even though he was half blind, he knew his love was there. He was safe, and he would be okay now. Amity was with him all the way back to Mars and the medical center in Meridiani. Only there did he have to leave his beloved’s side as Opportunity was taken in for surgery.

It seemed like hours before someone came to get Amity and took him to an individual room in their ICU. Inside was Oppy, hooked to a charger and a monitor for his vitals. Currently, it read _Self repair nanos activated. Damage level: Severe. Infections/viruses: None detected._ His mast and upper body rested on soft pads, raised so he lay at an angle. Several heating blankets covered him, to help calm his shivering. But the fix that most surprised Amity when he entered that room was,

“A-…..Am-mit-ty?” It was weak, but it was still unmistakably his voice. That voice, pained and weak as it was, still made Amity happy to hear it.

“Hey.” Amity rolled forward, looking over Opportunity’s battered body. It hurt him to see, but he tried to lighten the mood.

“You know,” he said, sliding his hand into Opportunity’s, “even when you’ve been through the wringer, you’re still as handsome as ever.”

Amity leaned forward to kiss the top of Oppy’s mast. “How are you feeling?”

“Much better knowing you’re okay.” Opportunity said, forcing a weak smile. “Everything still hurts…..mmh…….but you being here makes it hurt less.” His hand came up to weakly pull the other closer.  
“Now that I have you back……is my sister okay?”

“She’s alright. She stayed on Earth to talk to the humans who helped us, and to try to figure out why this happened.”

He pulled away to gesture, eyes smiling. “You should have seen her! I mean, I was focusing more on you, but she was great fighting those guys. I kind of just… swatted at them.”

“And don’t worry,” he said softly, cuddling into Opportunity again, “she’ll be back soon. She’ll be so happy to see you.”

This earned a small laugh.

“Now you see why she’s the one they call to knock cocky recruits back into place. But don’t compare yourself to her. She was in a war, remember. She had to be good or she’d be dead.” His arms shakily moved until it was around Amity, holding him close as best it could. “I knew you wouldn’t give in to them.”

“Of course not,” Amity said. “I was so scared, though. We all were. I was trying to negotiate, but they wouldn’t listen. Maybe I’m just no good at my job.”

Amity’s eyes scanned the places those taser prongs had been jammed into Opportunity’s body. They roamed over the scratches caused by the metal chains.

“I couldn’t do anything to help you. I’ll be better from now on, promise. You can’t run a society with me by your side if I’m useless at my job.”

“Stop it, Amity, you _did_ help." Opportunity said sternly, yet gently, "You didn’t give up on me and you didn’t let anyone else give up on me. You came for me so I wasn’t alone while Spirit fought them off, and I know you haven’t left my side since then. You don’t think that’s important? That it means something to me? Amity, that means EVERYTHING to me. You ran headfirst into danger for me. A person doesn’t do that for just anyone.” He hugged Amity close. “You may not have done a lot, but what you did do means so much to me. I love you, my braver-than-you-think Amity.”


End file.
